Chastened

Jesus chastised His disciples for having little faith.

For a long time I asked the question, is faith quantitative? My thought was you either believe or you don’t believe. An either or proposition. Yet Jesus chastised the disciple for having little faith.

Matt. 8: 25 The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” 26 “You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”…

The disciples perceived that Jesus was asleep, unaware of their predicament. GOD NEVER SLEEPS

Matthew 6:30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Where is our next meal coming from, what about our clothes, our homes, doesn’t God care?

Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?"

God call me to come to you but the world is rough, you don’t understand, I’m sinking.

Matthew 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

We shall all starve, you have led us to a place of destruction. (Don’t you remember the manna?)

When life makes no sense that is when faith or the lack of faith shows up.

O ye of little faith: In Luke, the phrase is, "where is your faith?" what has become of it? You professed to believe in me, is your faith gone already? In Mark it is, "how is it that ye have no faith?"

That is, in exercise, their faith was very small, it could hardly be discerned: some faith they had, as appears by their application to him, but it was very little. They had no faith in him that he could deliver them while sleeping; but had some little faith in him that he might, could he be awaked out of sleep; and for this Christ blames them; for he, as the eternal God, was as able to save them sleeping as waking. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So what are some examples of having a little faith in something and having a lot of faith in something?

What about flying on an airplane.

Hopefully if you are a pilot you have a lot of faith that the plane can and will fly. You have studied aviation, you have spent a lot of time experiencing flight, you know there are dangers but you mitigate the dangers as much as possible and weigh the risks and determined that flying is safe.

The passengers in first class are usually experienced flyers and have more faith in the planes ability to get them from point “A” to point “B” than maybe a first time flyer in coach.

The pilot lots of faith, those in first class confident faith, the first time flyer in coach hopeful faith.

All three have faith, just differing quantities. Notice also those with more faith have more experience. The more time you spend with something the more you know about it and the more trust & confidence you have in it.

The word used for faith in Scripture = “trust,” “confidence.”

If you find you think you can trust God but you’re not completely sold, you need to spend more time with Him. You’ve got to get to know Him better.

Hebrews 13 teaches us that He can be trusted completely. How’s your faith?

 

Peter was chastised when he thought he had a better plan than Gods (Peter – they will never execute you)

Matt. 16 …²² Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” ²³ But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

Peter wanted to protect the Lord from the world. God wanted to protect the world by offering his son as a sacrifice. Both were sincere and wanted to do the right thing. Peter saw with temporal eyes, God looks with eternal eyes.

How often I hear, “but they’re sincere” as a sort of explanation when someone does, or says something that is, or turns out to be wrong. If sincerity is the barometer for determining if something is right or wrong, Hitler would have been a saint but as we all know he was quite the opposite, he was evil personified. His sincerity turned out to be sincerely wrong. Satan is very sincere about being God.

Peter sincerely believed he was doing the right thing yet Jesus called him “Satan”. Pretty harsh according to our perspective. Yet Jesus was trying to get Peter to have an eternal vision, to see the big picture. 

Those who were looking for a conquering messiah verses the suffering servant messiah, Christ, were looking for an earthly kingdom. Sorry to say, many Christians today are still doing the same thing. They want to sell eternal blessings for money, prosperity, health and the temporal blessings of this fallen world. No matter how much you obtain in this world it is tainted by sin and is a sorry replacement for what Christ has for you in eternity. Build up treasures in heaven (Matt. 6)

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND IMAGINE HEAVEN

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Anything we think would be better, any plans we think superior are not even a shadow of what God has for us.

Relax, Trust, Wait, and then Act.             He’s got this.

The disciples thought the childishness of the children was interfering with Christ’s message.

Luke 18 ¹⁵Now people were even bringing their babies to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them. And when the disciples saw this, they rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁶But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”…

Sit still and be quite, you’re in church, grow up. Do we really want our children to act like little adults? Have you ever met a child who acts like a little adult? My first thought is, something’s wrong; they’re kind of creepy.

I’m an old guy and find I’m a lot more easily annoyed by kids acting like kids than I used to be. Yet, when I take a minute to think about it, I wish I could be less encumbered, not worrying about what others think or say, more honest and less guarded, you know, like a child. I remember sharing with the guys in jail ministry, If you can’t be honest when you pray to an all knowing, all powerful God, when will you be honest? It can be very emotionally releasing to have a place to go where you can share you’re deepest, darkest secrets.

Children trust and wear it all on their sleeves. What you see is what you get. The Scriptures mention that as an adult we are to act as an adult but I don’t think it’s referencing the trust of a child, it’s referencing the lack of a maturity of a child.

1 Cor. 13: ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹²For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God].

Notice this text is not talking about children’s trust but about the maturity we have available from God. It recognizes that we obtain knowledge/maturity in Christ as we grow from a child (baby) in the faith into a mature (adult) in the faith. The context reflects back to our inability to conceive what eternity will be (we see in a mirror dimly) and how we are to know Christ in a mature manner.

Our relationship to God is exemplified by a trusting and transparent relationship similar to that of a loving child’s relationship to a loving father.  

We have been treated unfairly. Call down fire from heaven

Luke 9: ⁵¹ When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶ And they went on to another village.

We have our rights. In the Western World we have this idea of inalienable rights.

Miriam Webster: INALIENABLE = incapable of being alienated (transferred to another’s ownership, removed), surrendered, or transferred.

The idea of each person having value given them by God and that no one can devalue or diminish that God given value is legitimate. But to equate that God given value to a set of individual rights that take precedence over loving God and your neighbor is not Scriptural or how followers of Christ are called to live their lives. We surrender ourselves (our rights – the things that we would prefer or are endowed with by the Government) to serve God and others.

Insisting on our personal rights is exactly the opposite of what takes place when we are called to become Christ’s disciples? We surrender all to come follow Christ. I think we have heard so long about “Personal” rights that somehow we feel these rights have been bestowed on us because we are Americans or whatever. What about our brothers and sisters in countries where they are oppressed. Do they have less value than those of us who have all these personal rights?  Hardly as we shall soon see.

Value is given by God, Rights are given by the government.

Let’s examine the “Personal Rights” bestowed on some of the heroes of the faith. We’ll use the list from Hebrews Chapter 11.

Abel – Killed by Cain

Enoch – not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Noah – Laughed at, scoffed at and built the biggest animal shipping transport of all time.

Abraham – was called by a God he did not know, to go to a land he could not see, based on promises that seemed impossible.Sarah – laughed at God’s foolishness.

Isaac – sons and wife deceived him.

Jacob – sons tried to kill their brother, lied to their father so he thought him dead.

Joseph – brothers tried to kill him, sold him as a slave, thrown in jail, raised up to deliver his people.

Moses – Pharaohs son, accused and questioned by the people God told him to lead, kept from the Promised Land for striking a rock with a stick

Rahab the prostitute – helped the Jewish spies. She and her family were spared.

Gideon – didn’t want to lead an army. He laid multiple fleeces to get out of it.

Barak – unwilling general who delivered the Jews from the Canaanites.

Samson – lost his faith, lost his wife, found his faith, lost his life.

Hebrews 11: ³⁶ others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

But what about their rights. God valued them above all Governments, persons, wealth and every nation of this world. None of them were worthy of them. They had great value, just not many rights.

How did the disciples view their rights?

Luke 5:11          When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

 Paul says,        “It’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” Gal. 2:20     

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself. . . Acts 20:24

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3

The disciples wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans because they felt they and Christ had not been treated fairly their personal rights had not been honored. Little did they know how unfairly their master would ultimately be treated.

Agendas

Mark 10: ³⁵ James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” ³⁶ And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³⁷ They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”

³⁸ But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” ³⁹ They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. ⁴⁰ But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Agendas are tricky things. My wife always says, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, but what if our plans are not God’s plans. There are plenty of examples in Scripture of those who made plans that were not destined to come to fruition because God had another idea.

James 4:13-15  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

Luke 12: ¹⁶ And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷ And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

So what am I saying, is making plans a bad thing? Not at all and I included Luke 12:21 to demonstrate that point. We need to “Store Up Treasure” for God and His Kingdom. Will we always make the right decisions; NO. But if our motivation is to serve God and try to help build His kingdom we can be sure that, even if we are unsuccessful according to the world’s standards, according to God’s standard we are very successful.

Connie and I attempted to plant a church in Denmark, WI. We spent over 2 years, a lot of effort and money to try and pull it off. I was sure it was God’s plan. I put other ministry offers aside because I was convinced this was God’s plan for me. It never took off. Now we can try to figure out why it never happened, we can say it still might, but what if it never does. Were we wrong to try? Even though those involved may think it a failure, will it be a failure in God’s eyes. We can beat ourselves up with coulda/shouldas but how does God perceive it, that’s of eternal value.

 As followers of Christ we experience God’s Grace in so many areas of our lives: In our salvation and forgiveness of our sins, in the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and recreating us, in God’s faithfulness, in God’s patience with us and so many more examples of God’s Grace that we experience daily. We rely on God’s grace to overcome our shortcomings. When our motivation is pure, God is pleased. We’re not in charge of the results Gods in charge of the results.

The Apostles asked Jesus for positions of authority for what purpose; to serve or be served.  I think in the verses that follow where Jesus talked about those who follow Him are to be servants of all and that even Jesus came to serve is evidence of where they were coming from.

Psalm 100: ²Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! ³Know that the Lord, he is God!    It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

John 17:4  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

If we, in our human weakness have as our purpose to serve our LORD, then how can what we do be a failure? It can’t, we must stop procrastinating, God has chosen us to serve Him.  He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion.

(TAKE NOTE: He starts the work, He completes the work)